


We Share

by LunarC



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Affection, Back rubs, Fluff, Food, M/M, Sick Daryl Dixon, gobstoppers, just a short sweet fic about sharing food and junk, not as kinky as you think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 11:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10555208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarC/pseuds/LunarC
Summary: A short fic about Rick and Daryl sharing food and then sharing something more hearty.





	

Rick is looking for Daryl, checking the barrel of his gun while he plods up the stairs to their shared home in Alexandria. Carol’s been gardening again because there’s not a single weed on the lawn. Rick knows she likes to do that when she’s eavesdropping on the neighbours and checking to see who’s coming and going.

“Daryl?” Rick calls when he comes inside.

Rick finds Daryl sitting on the couch, Judith asleep on his stomach with a spoon sticking out of his mouth and a caught expression on his face.

Rick stared at the hunter who dropped the spoon into a small bowl balanced on the couch beside him.

“…Am I interrupting something?” Rick asks, smiling genuinely for the first time in days. 

Daryl wipes his mouth and shrugs, patting Judith’s back as she began to shift. 

“Carol made puddin’.” Daryl murmurs in way of explanation, picking up the small bowl at his side and the spoon and continuing to spoon tiny amounts into his mouth. “Judith didn’t finish it-Didn’t wanna waste it…You want some?”

Rick crosses over to Daryl and slips onto the couch beside him, careful to keep his voice low to avoid waking Judith any further from where she is completely conked out on Daryl’s slouched form. Little hands wrapped around his middle. Sighing tiredly and beginning to wake up anyway. Making disgruntled noises as she stirs.

“Good?” Rick asks. Because he might be a selfless man but not one who can turn down free chocolate. Rick strokes Judith’s back and Daryl shifts a little more upright so Rick can pick her up without too much trouble.

“Mm.” Daryl says and holds a spoonful out to Rick who just leans forward and licks it right off the spoon, cradling Judith in the crook of his arm and sighing.

“Mm that’s not bad.”

“There’s some left on the counter. I saved yous some. You, Carl and Michonne.” Daryl said but held out another spoonful all the same.

Rick took the spoon and put it in his mouth while he settled Judith in his arms, rocking her a little as she gurgled and pawed at his shirt. “Thanks.” Rick mouthed out around the spoon.

Daryl’s eyes followed the spoons travels between Rick’s lips and then dropped to where he was nursing his baby gently. When Rick looked up the moment passed unnoticed.

“No problem. She’s good today.”

“Lucky you, Carol says she’s been teething.” Rick replied, stroking his daughter’s hair out of her small face gently. “Cried all night.”

“I heard…You want me to sleep with her?” Daryl asked. He’d slept with Judith’s crib before, swapped beds with Rick so he could sleep all the way through the night. Daryl didn’t sleep much anyway. 

“You and Aaron are going out tomorrow.” Rick replied.

“So? I’m used to less sleep than I’m gettin’, no use getting comfortable…” 

Rick looked up at Daryl then and took the spoon from his mouth, handing it back to Daryl who took it. Fiddling with it and then spooning a little more of his treat into his mouth. 

“…You want me to move her crib or?”

“Naw, I’ll just take your bed. Carol changed my sheets anyway. Woman’s impossible when she’s bored.” 

“Reminds me of someone else I know.” Rick said affectionately and Daryl snorted, spooning the last of his pudding into his mouth. 

“…You want the last bit?” Daryl asked.

“There’s more, it’s alright, that’s yours.” Rick said gently. “But thanks.”

Daryl shrugged and polished off the last of his bowl before using his fingers to wipe every last trace of it out, licking them clean one at a time.

Rick’s eyes fixated on the hunter’s fingers as he did so, but that moment, too, passed unnoticed. 

\---

“…This tastes like ass.” 

“You’re just uncultured.” 

“Suck me off, Grimes.” 

Rick laughed as Daryl rolled the large, solid, gobstopper around in his mouth. Snorting through his nose to try and breathe and speak clearly around the thing.

“Why’d you gimme this? It sucks.”

“’Cause you said you’d never had one.” Rick said certainly, “And that is just-a crime.”

Daryl rolls his eyes to the heaven in the passenger seat. They’d only just busted a candy store downtown and all that was left was shitty old rock candy and the junk no one but Michonne liked (and maybe Carl). 

Daryl spat the ball of sugar out into his hand and rolled it between his fingers, massaging his jaw.

“Gon’ break my teeth on this stupid thing.” Daryl growled.

“You’re ‘supposed to suck it,” Rick said while Daryl squinted at him, “You know, you gotta work at it, Carl used to spend days on ‘em. Used to sleep with it by his bed. Lori hated it but I always thought it was kind of funny…” 

“…Weird.” Daryl mumbled. 

“Give it.” Rick said, holding out a hand while he held the driving wheel with the other.

Daryl hesitated for a second before handing Rick the ball of candy. Rick jammed the thing straight into his mouth, rolling it around for a second before gagging.  
Daryl snorted.

“You alright, Sherriff Sucker?” Daryl smirked.

Rick spat. Laughing around the blockage and having to gasp in air through his nose. 

“Spit it out!” Daryl commanded, snorting as Rick dropped his eyes from the road for a second, shaking with laughter, “If you crash us on this road choking on a damn hard candy I’ll crawl outta the wreckage just to smack you myself!”

Rick spat it out, coughing and narrowly avoiding a walker on the road back to Alexandria. 

Daryl snatched the candy back from Rick and Rick laughed, getting his breath back.

“Alright, I admit it.” Rick grinned. “That’s pretty awful.”

“No shit.” Daryl said pulling out the wrapper from his pocket and wrapping it back up.

Rick eyed him, smirking. 

“Saving that for later?”

“Hell no.” Daryl said but popped into his top pocket all the same.

Later that night Rick caught Daryl sucking on something smaller and discovered pieces of the gobstopper smashed apart in the kitchen. 

But he didn’t say anything.

\---

“You feelin’ alright?”

“Feel fine,”

Rick sat down beside Daryl on his bed, smiling at Carol as she left the room with a knowing look. 

Daryl looked more angry than sick, but he was pale looking, red high on his cheeks and ears. It was a cold, but a cold could kill (and had) and so Daryl and the rest of the house (save Judith) were on quarantine until it passed.

Rick smiled grimly and nodded. 

“You gonna eat today?”

Daryl shrugged. He’d thrown up the night before and refused to eat anything that morning. Carol had argued with him about it for almost half an hour before she’d stormed from the room. It was midday now and Carol had effectively passed the nursing buck to Rick because she needed some air.

“…I got you some breakfast.” Rick said, holding up a bowl of colourful cereal. Daryl’s favourite (though he’d never admit it) the brand stuff.

Daryl stares at it then shakes his head.

“Save it, I’ll just throw it up again.”

“No.” Rick said surely, stirring some milk into it and making Daryl snap his gaze back to him, glaring. “This is yours. Carl made it.” 

“…S’just cereal. You eat it.” 

Rick ignored Daryl’s comment and held out a spoon to him.

Daryl crossed his arms firmly and refused to budge.

“…Ok…Look.” Rick said. “If this bowl isn’t empty when I walk back downstairs Carol will come up here again-“

“Don’t-“

“-And she will glare at you until you finish it. Then she’ll glare at me for not making you finish it and then we’ll all have to sit in silence until you finally just eat the damn bowl of cereal anyway.” Rick finished. Making Daryl turn his lip up at him angrily.

“…So you eat it.”

“…Daryl.”

Daryl frowned deeply at Rick who just stirred the cereal a little more before holding the spoon out again. The archer sighed and sat up a little straighter while Rick scooted and made some more room.

“Give it to me,” Daryl took the bowl from Rick and bit the spoon out of his hand. Pulling it out of his mouth and glaring at the bowl dangerously. Rick smiled and sat next to him as Daryl quickly shovelled the food into his mouth.

“Don’t make yourself sick.” Rick said.

Daryl dipped his fingers in the milk and flicked it at Rick who snorted, shaking his head.

“Carol said you were being stubborn, this a fever thing? You get bratty when you’re sick?”

“You wanna see bratty?” Daryl glared at Rick, stilling in his inhalation of food. 

“…No thank you.” Rick replied smartly.

Daryl glared at him for a few seconds before chewing his last mouthful and holding the bowl out to Rick.

“Alright, I’m done.” Daryl said. Licking milk off his fingers and wiping his mouth on the back of his wrist. 

Rick took the bowl and snorted, stirring the last dregs of it compulsively while Daryl watched him closely. 

“You leave me any cereal or is this all just milk?” Rick teased.

“Fuck you, is what it is.” Daryl snapped. 

Rick smiled, setting the bowl down on the side table while Daryl watched him very closely, sat up against the headboard of his bed, Rick sat up alongside him.

“…You ain’t feelin’ sick, right?” Daryl asked.

“Nah. Not me, I’m fit as a fiddle.” Rick smiled. “One of us has got to hold down the fort.”

“Fort’s held. Carol and Michonne can take it.” Daryl said quietly. “You oughta rest. Just in case.”

“Mm.” Rick said noncommittally.

Daryl bit his thumb nail.

“No one else got it, just me?”

“No one else. No one else runs themselves as ragged as you.”

“’Cept you.” Daryl mumbled.

Rick looked over at Daryl who had a careful, sincere expression on his face. They stared at one another for a few seconds before Rick dropped the other man’s gaze, clearing his throat.

“…You reading anything? Wanna play cards some?” Rick asked, changing the subject.

“…Sure, you go show Carol that bowl first. Need that woman off my back or she’ll put a sharp one in me.” Daryl said darkly.

Rick chuckled, getting up and taking the bowl with him. Daryl watched him go and kept chewing on his thumb.

\---

“…Do you miss it?” Rick asked.

Daryl looked over at Rick, sitting opposite him in the backyard, low fire roasting two squirrels over a pit in the ground.

“…What?”

“…Being out there?” Rick asked. Daryl shrugged. “…It just seems like-the second we settled here you were wanting to go back out…”

“Thing’s’re easier out there.” Daryl mumbled. “Simpler…”

“More dangerous.” Rick said, looking over at where Enid and Carl were reading comic books together while Michonne played with Judith. The sun was getting lower and they’d opted for a small BBQ while it was still warm enough to stay outside. 

“Naw.” Daryl said, “It’s the same.”

“…Is Aaron watching your back right?” Rick asked, rubbing his arm and looking over at Daryl who squinted up at him, stoking the fire. “…You said he was chatty.”

“He is.” Daryl replied. 

“…But you trust him?”

Daryl nodded and took one of the roasting vegetables off the grill, putting it on a plastic plate and letting it cool. 

“…I don’t like you going out there alone with him.” Rick confided. Making Daryl look up, eyes a little wide for a second before he looked back down into the fire in front of them where they were sat up next to each other. “…I don’t like you being so far away from us.”

“…Need to hunt.” Daryl said cautiously, “Need to find people. It’s gotta be someone, Rick.”

“I know.” Rick said, sighing, “I guess I just kind of wish it didn’t have to be one of ours.”

“…Mm.” Daryl said, blowing on the root vegetable in his hand and biting it in half, chewing and shrugging before holding it out to Rick who took it and ate quietly without hesitating. Daryl watched him chewing and sat up a little straighter, stretching his arms over his head.

“…You okay?” Rick asked.

“Yeah. Fell down.”

“That ditch the other day?”

“Weren’t a ditch, an incline, Aaron blew it out of proportion.”

“You tore a hole through your jacket and Carol said you got a bump on the back of your head the size of a golf ball.” 

Daryl touched the back of his head and frowned. 

“Snitch.” Daryl murmured.

Rick smirked. “Want me to work on you?” 

Daryl snorted. “You offering me the full package? Thai style?” 

“No that’s extra.” Rick sniped back. “You gotta take me to dinner first.” 

Daryl held up a squirrel on a stick and they both stared at each other seriously before Rick laughed and Daryl smiled.

“Maybe later.” Daryl said. 

“Well alright.” Rick replied, taking a cut off piece of meat from Daryl’s hand and putting it into his mouth. 

\---

It was long after the BBQ had ended, Carl and Judith were asleep, Carol and Michonne were spending the night with Sasha and Tara doing girl things or whatever (Rick thought they just wanted to be in a house without a baby crying for a night, which was fair enough, since both did more than their fair share of baby sitting). 

Rick and Daryl were the last ones awake. Daryl smoking on the back porch, sitting and staring at the fire pit while Rick was drinking a beer, stood up beside him. 

They were pretty content to share the silence, handing the beer back and forth until Daryl finally spoke up.

“You asked me, earlier, if I miss it out there…” Daryl began quietly and Rick just nodded, illuminated by the stars, the moon and the end of Daryl’s cigarette. “…I don’t. Not really…But I miss the way things were…”

“…On the road?” Rick asks.

“…At the prison.” Daryl admits.

“…Oh.”

They both stared out over the garden, the snarls and cries of walkers still just audible beyond the walls. Drawn to their voices and not easily ignored.

“…I miss it too.” Rick replied and Daryl looked up at him. Handing him the beer back. It was their last and Rick had refused to drink it alone so Daryl had promised to share. Though he barely swigged it. Not wanting to be drunk during his time alone with his friend. 

“…I miss the privacy.” Daryl said.

“…I miss my garden.” Rick replied.

Neither spoke of the people who they missed even more.

Daryl sighed and went to stand, groaning. Rick finished the beer and looked over at him.

“Still sore?”

“Yeah. Worse at night. Cold.” 

“Offers still there if you want it.” Rick said, “No happy endings though, sorry, I run a tight ship.”

Daryl rolled his shoulder and snorted gruffly. 

“What, you don’t want my money?”

“Sorry I only accept squirrel.”

“No card?” 

“Machine’s down.” Rick said, following Daryl inside and into the living room. Locking their backdoor behind them and putting the empty beer bottle on the counter. Feeling warm and tired after their bbq that afternoon and their easy conversation. 

Daryl peeled himself out of his jacket (sleeve now mended) and turned back to Rick. 

“…Couch?” 

“Yeah, massage table’s out of order too.” 

“Smart ass.” Daryl said without any bite. Lying down on the couch face first and exhaling.

“Left shoulder?” Rick asked, sitting beside Daryl on the couch and palming his back tenderly.

“Yeah.” Daryl murmured from the couch cushions. 

Rick worked on him, kneading his shoulder and getting him to extend his arm out so he could rub over his bicep and elbow. Rick accidentally poked his ribs and Daryl flinched. Ticklish. Shooting a glare over his shoulder.

“Sorry, sorry, forgot.” Rick said. 

Rick kept on working him until Daryl was sighing into the couch, arm dropping to the floor when Rick finally let go of him and sat back. His own body protesting at bending over the other man for so long. Fingers stiff and sore from their work.

“Better?” Rick asked.

“Mmm.” Daryl drawled from the pillows in front of his face.

Rick chuckled and Daryl took a few seconds before sitting back up. Cheek wrinkled a little from laying his face on its side. He wiped some drool from the corner of his mouth and Rick elected to ignore it. 

“Got somethin’” Daryl mumbled.

“…For me?” Rick asked and Daryl nodded, reaching into the top pocket of his shirt.

“Yeah, forgot about it ‘till it was digging into me.” 

Daryl pulled out a single after dinner mint, slightly crushed, from his top pocket and held it out to Rick.

“…Sorry, squirrel only.” Rick quipped and Daryl flicked it at Rick who chuckled, catching it. “Thank you…We should share it.”

“S’Tiny.” Daryl said. Sitting up and staring at Rick in the low light from a lamp in the corner behind him. “Hardly worth splittin’.” 

“Still.” Rick said, “That’s what we do. We share.” 

“…That’s what we do.” Daryl agreed. Staring at Rick intensely while he unwrapped the small, sweet, gift. 

Rick bit the tiny chocolate in half, chewing and sighing happily before holding out the other piece to Daryl. Daryl watched Rick’s lips as he chewed before taking the offered chocolate and popping it into his mouth, chewing.

A second later Daryl was leaning forward and pressing their lips together. 

Their first kiss tasted like mint chocolate. The second slightly less and by the time the third rolled around Rick’s eyes were wider than dinner plates and the taste of chocolate had all but been licked from his mouth.

They stared at each other in the quiet house, wrapper forgotten between them, Daryl leant forward like he was sitting on a thin wire. Expression blank, like he was bent on reading the other completely.

“…Was that a cheap trick to make me eat yours, too?” Rick finally whispered.

“…Maybe I’m tired of sharing.” Daryl replied cryptically. 

“…Maybe I am too.” Rick said back.

“…You into this?” Daryl asked, gesturing between the two of them. 

“…Yeah.” Rick said, nodding after a few seconds, “Yeah, I think I am.”

Daryl smiled, a quick, small quirk of the lip.

“Thank fuck.”

**Author's Note:**

> the 'tense' gets a little janky in this one but i'm too tired to fix it. 
> 
> hope you like it!


End file.
